Payment mechanism integration wizard

ABSTRACT

Provided is a method and a web-site integration system to integrate payment mechanisms into a commercial website that offers online merchants a flexible, user-friendly and customizable wizard to integrate payment mechanisms into their online commercial websites without having to understand the detailed intricacies of an API or other computer code. The wizard steps the merchant through creating an account to obtain credentials and educates the merchant on the page flows of the payment mechanism that the merchant wishes to integrate. Then, the wizard generates code snippets and files to be downloaded by the merchant and to be easily inserted into key pages of the merchant&#39;s online commercial website. The merchant can then test the completely integrated code in a developer&#39;s sandbox or go live with the completely integrated code.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/171,983, filed Jul. 11, 2008.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to online, internet-based financialtransaction programs and commercial systems and more particularly to amethod and system where merchants are able to integrate financialtransaction payment mechanism code seamlessly into their own commercialwebsites.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the advent of the internet and online electronic commerce(e-commerce), financial transaction programs that allow users toseamlessly purchase products, transfer and receive funds over aninternet connection have been in high demand.

Traditional methods of executing financial transactions have beenlimited to a user providing his or her credit card, debit card, orchecking account number on a commercial website, or using checks, moneyorders and other forms of paper-based payments. However, these means ofexecuting financial transactions are often cumbersome, slow, andinconvenient, requiring a user to remember a multitude of accountnumbers, login data and passwords. This often results in significanttime delays for payment processing. Furthermore, security and fraudconcerns are prevalent. For instance, a user is often reluctant toprovide sensitive credit card or debit card information over an internetconnection, regardless of how “secure” an internet connection claims tobe.

Recent financial transaction programs have emerged as a means for a userto pay for purchases, transfer money, receive money (if the user is amerchant), store shipping addresses, and set up multiple financialaccounts (e.g. checking or savings, credit card, debit card) all withone single login and password. Security and fraud concerns are alsomitigated by means of online financial security precautions, encryptionmethods, and anti-phising programs that are inherent in online,internet-based financial transaction systems.

Merchants may decide to use such a financial transaction program inorder to receive funds from customers who purchase products from theircommercial websites. There are several “payment mechanisms” that enablemerchants to receive funds from customers. For instance, certainmechanisms enable customers to enter their credit card, debit card or goto an external login site to enter their account information, pay forthe product, and then proceed to checkout.

However, it is difficult for merchants to integrate these paymentmechanisms without significant experience with the associatedapplication programming interface (API) or knowledge of computer code.Merchants or vendors have to understand the API, have to know how tocode in the specific provided language (i.e. ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, Java,PHP) and have to know how to develop complicated code that interfaceswith a plurality of servers and databases during an online financialtransaction between a customer and a merchant.

Currently, there are no user-friendly programs that present a simplecontextual page flow and that also simultaneously generate the necessarycode to integrate into a merchant's commercial website.

Therefore, there is a need in the art for a simple, user-friendly andcustomizable method and system that allows a merchant to seamlesslyintegrate payment mechanisms inherent to financial transaction programsinto their commercial websites, without having to know an API library orthe details of a particular code (i.e. ASP, JSP, PHP, .Net, Java).

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a method is provided to integrate paymentmechanisms and a web-site integration system that offers onlinemerchants a flexible, user-friendly and customizable way to integratepayment mechanisms into their online commercial websites without havingto understand the detailed intricacies of an API or other computer code.

First, a merchant creates an API-based account to obtain API Credentialsor create a non-API based account to obtain non-API Credentials (e.g.such as Payflow Credentials with a PayPal Merchant Account), Then, themerchant selects a payment mechanism from an integration wizard tointegrate into his or her commercial website. The merchant shouldunderstand the payment mechanism, such as by understanding the pageflows of that particular payment mechanism, which may be accomplished bypresenting the merchant with page flows associated with the paymentmechanism.

This allows the merchant to understand a common terminology for thedifferent pages of the payment mechanism, such as a shopping cart site,e.g., Shopping Cart Page, Shipping Address Page, Billing Page, OrderReview Page and finally the Order Confirmation Page. Then, the merchantprovides API Credentials and other parameters (such as a Shopping CartProgramming Language, an Environment, a Return URL, a Cancel URL,Payment Type and Currency Code) as inputs to the wizard.

After the developer or merchant submits the requested data, theintegration wizard generates a plurality of code snippets and aplurality of files. The code snippets can be cut and pasted into therespective sections (Shopping Cart Page, Billing Page, etc.) of themerchant's commercial website. Also, the key files produced by theintegration wizard that wrap all the API functionality in them areplaced in the shopping cart web directory of the merchant's commercialwebsite. Afterwards, the payment mechanism code will be successfullyintegrated into the merchant's commercial website.

Thus, the wizard presents contextual page flow and also generates codeat the same time to enable the user to easily integrate an API-basedpayment mechanism.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, throughcomparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth inthe remainder of the present application and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of integrating a paymentmechanism into a commercial website according to one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing sub-steps of one of the steps of themethod shown in FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing sub-steps of another one of the steps ofthe method shown in FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot of a “Payment Mechanism Select” page of theIntegration Wizard System according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5A is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page for oneselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5B is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page for oneselected payment mechanism showing a “help box”, according to anotherembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5C is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page foranother selected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 5D is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page foranother selected payment mechanism showing a “help box”, according toanother embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5E is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page for yetanother selected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 5F is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page for yetanother selected payment mechanism showing a “help box”, according toanother embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6A is a screenshot of a first tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “shopping cart” aspect of aselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6B is a screenshot of a second tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “Express Checkout” aspect of aselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6C is a screenshot of a third tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “Payment Option” aspect of aselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6D is a screenshot of a fourth tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “Express Checkout” and “PaymentOption” aspects, combined, of a selected payment mechanism, according toanother embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6E is a screenshot of another tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “Payment Option” flow for a creditcard, of another selected payment mechanism, according to anotherembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7A is a screenshot of a page requesting API credentials, ShoppingCart Programming Language, a Return URL, a Cancel URL, the Payment Typeand the Currency Code of a selected payment mechanism, according toanother embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7B is a screenshot of a page requesting Payflow credentials,Shopping Cart Programming Language, the Environment, a Return URL, aCancel URL, the Payment Type, and the Currency Code of another selectedpayment mechanism, according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8A is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet and file(s) touse in the “Shopping Cart” page of a merchant's commercial website for aselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 8B is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet to insert intoto the “Billing Page” page of a merchant's commercial website for aselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 8C is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet to insert intoto the “Order Review” page of a merchant's commercial website for aselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 8D is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet to insert intothe “Order Confirmation” page of a merchant's commercial website for aselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 8E is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet and file(s) toinsert into the “Credit Card” transaction page of a merchant'scommercial website for another selected payment mechanism, according toanother embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8F, FIG. 8G, and FIG. 8H are screenshots showing example sectionsof a merchant's commercial website.

FIG. 9A is a screenshot of a page showing the completion of integrationof code on a merchant's commercial website for a selected paymentmechanism, according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9B is a screenshot of a page showing the completion of integrationof code on a merchant's commercial website for another selected paymentmechanism, according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9C is a screenshot of a page showing the completion of integrationof code on a merchant's commercial website for yet another selectedpayment mechanism, according to another embodiment of the invention.

To allow cross-referencing among the figures, like elements in thefigures are provided like reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled inthe art to make and use the invention, and is provided in the context ofparticular applications of the invention and their requirements. Variousmodifications to the disclosed embodiments will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art and the general principles defined herein may beapplied to other embodiments and applications without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided thatenables an online merchant to seamlessly integrate payment mechanismcode into their commercial website without having to understand theintricacies of an API or other code.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method 100 of integrating a paymentmechanism into a commercial website according to one embodiment of theinvention. In the first step 110, a merchant visits an “IntegrationWizard” website or uses an “Integration Wizard” program, both of whichembody method 100. Wizards are well known in the industry.

In step 115, a merchant creates either a sandbox account in order toacquire API credentials, such as an API username, API password and asignature or digital signature, which will be further explained in thedescription for FIG. 2. Also in step 115, a merchant can create amerchant or Payflow account to acquire Payflow credentials such as name,password, user or partner. Payflow credentials are simply examples ofcredentials that are not API credentials and are not limited to justPayflow credentials.

In step 120, a merchant selects a payment mechanism to integrate intohis or her commercial website. A plurality of different paymentmechanisms exist. One type of payment mechanism can, for instance,allows a customer to leave the merchant's commercial website and log-into an external financial transaction website (such as, but not limitedto, a PayPal login page) and send the payment back from the financialtransaction program to the merchant's commercial website. Examples ofthese types of payment mechanisms include PayPal's Express Checkout(with a Developer Sandbox Account) product and PayPal's Express CheckoutPayFlow edition (with a PayPal Merchant Account) product. Another typeof payment mechanism allows a customer to make a payment to the merchantall without leaving the merchant's commercial website. An example ofthis type of payment mechanism includes PayPal's Credit Card PayFlowproduct (with a PayPal Merchant Account).

In step 125, once a payment mechanism is selected in step 120, the pageflows of that respective selected payment mechanism are presented inorder to educate the merchant on how a user proceeds from placing itemsin a shopping cart to checking out. This is done to establish a contextwith the merchant and to establish a common terminology for referring todifferent pages of the shopping cart site. For instance, there is a“Shopping Cart Page”, a “Shipping Address Page”, a “Billing Page”, an“Order Review Page” and finally an “Order Confirmation Page”. For apayment mechanism that requires a customer to leave a merchant'scommercial website, there are two primary page flows that can be shown.

First, a page flow can be shown that details how a customer can proceeddirectly from the “Shopping Cart Page” of the merchant's commercialwebsite to an external website of a financial transaction program (suchas a PayPal login page) to provide their login data and pay for thepurchased item through the financial transaction program (e.g. usingPayPal funds, for instance). Then, the customer reviews the payment theymade through their financial transaction program. Afterwards, thecustomer is brought back to an “Order Review Page” of the merchant'scommercial website and then is taken to the “Order Confirmation Page” ofthe merchant's commercial website.

Second, another page flow can be shown that details how a customer canproceed from the “Shopping Cart Page” of the merchant's commercialwebsite to the “Billing Page” of the merchant's commercial website andthen to the an external website of a financial transaction program (suchas a PayPal login page) to provide their login data and pay for thepurchased item through the financial transaction program (e.g. usingPayPal funds, for instance). Then, the customer reviews the payment theymade through their financial transaction program. Afterwards, thecustomer is brought back to an “Order Review Page” of the merchant'scommercial website and then is taken to the “Order Confirmation Page” ofthe merchant's commercial website.

Third, the merchant is shown that both of the above two page flows canbe implemented for a payment mechanism that requires a customer to leavea merchant's commercial website to an external financial transactionprogram website.

Fourth, for a payment mechanism that enables a customer to stay at amerchant's commercial website the entire time, a simple direct page flowis presented that shows how a customer can proceed from the “ShoppingCart Page” of the merchant's commercial website, to the “ShippingAddress Page”, then to the “Billing Page,” then the “Order Review Page”and then finally to the “Order Confirmation Page” all on the merchant'scommercial website.

In step 130, a merchant provides API Credentials (e.g. API Username, APIPassword, Digital Signature) if the merchant signed up for an APIDeveloper Account, or the merchant provides Payflow Credentials (e.g.Name, Password, User, Partner) if the merchant signed up for a non-APIbased account such as, for example, a PayPal Merchant Account or anothersimilar type of account not affiliated with an API. The merchant alsospecifies additional parameters. The end result of step 130 is thatcode-snippets and file(s) get generated by the wizard from the API orPayflow Credentials and other parameter information that the merchantspecifies.

In step 135, a merchant will have the downloaded code snippets andfile(s) which were generated from step 130.

In step 140, a merchant follows the detailed instructions provided bythe Integration Wizard that details how to integrate the downloaded codesnippets and file(s) into the specific pages (e.g. the “Shopping CartPage”, the “Billing Page”, the “Order Review Page” and the “OrderConfirmation Page”) of the merchant's commercial website. The end resultof step 140 is that after following the instructions, a merchant willhave the option of testing the integrated code in a sandbox or “goinglive” with the integrated code.

In step 145, a merchant then decides to test the integrated code in adeveloper's sandbox, if the merchant has already set up a DeveloperSandbox account (with API Credentials). Afterwards, in step 150, amerchant may also decide to “go live” with the code, which basicallymeans that the integrated code will be placed on the merchant'scommercial website to be used by customers and the rest of the public.

In step 155, the merchant asks whether he or she wishes to integrate anyadditional payment mechanisms with the Integration Wizard. If there arestill more payment mechanisms to integrate, the merchant proceeds backto step 120 and selects another payment mechanism to integrate into hisor her commercial website. If the merchant does not want to integrateany more payment mechanisms and the “going live” of the last paymentmechanism the merchant integrated into his or her commercial website wassuccessful, the merchant is done with the process, and therefore, themerchant goes to step 160 to finish the entire integration process.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing details of step 130 of the integrationmethod shown in FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the invention.

Step 205 asks whether the merchant has set-up a Developer-SandboxAccount and therefore has API Credentials, or if the merchant has set-upa non-API Account such as a Payflow Account and has Payflow Credentials.

In step 210, if the merchant has a Developer-Sandbox Account, then themerchant has API Credentials such as an API Username, an API Passwordand a Signature (or Digital Signature). Therefore, in step 210, amerchant inputs his or her API Credentials (API Username, API Password,Signature) into the Integration Wizard.

In step 215, if the merchant has a non-API based Account or a PayflowAccount, then the merchant has Payflow Credentials such as ID data for:Vendor, Password, User, and Partner. The Vendor (ID) is the login namecreated when the merchant registered for the Account. The Password isthe password for the account. The User (ID) should be the same as the“Vendor” (ID) unless a separate user was created. For instance, if themerchant is using PayPal, a separate user can be created for the PayFlowPro product from within the merchant's PayPal Manager Account. Finally,the Partner (ID) is applicable if the merchant is using PayPal. ThePartner ID for PayPal is the ID provided to the merchant by theauthorized PayPal Reseller who registered the merchant for the PayFlowPro service. If the merchant purchased the PayPal Merchant Accountdirectly from PayPal, then “PayPal” is input as the Partner ID. ThePartner ID value is case-sensitive.

In step 220 and step 225, the merchant selects the Shopping CartProgramming Language that the merchant wishes to code the Shopping Cartfiles in. This code is usually what the rest of the merchant'scommercial website is coded in. The Shopping Cart Programming Languagecan comprise, but is not limited to: Active Server Pages (ASP), ASP.NET(ASPX), Java Server Pages (JSP), Java (or Java SDK) or PHP.

In step 230, if the merchant has a non-API based Account or a PayflowAccount, then the merchant can select the “Environment” of theintegrated code, which usually comprises either “Pilot”, for testingpurposes, or “Live” which means that the integrated code willautomatically be integrated into the actual, live version of themerchant's commercial website available on the internet.

In step 235, the merchant provides a “Return URL”. A “Return URL” isusually the “Order Review Page” of the merchant's commercial website,and is the website that a customer “returns” to after visiting anexternal financial transaction website such as PayPal. For instance, ifthe merchant's commercial website is coded in HTML, the Return URL maybe: http://www.yourstore.com/OrderConfirmPage.htm.

In step 240, the merchant provides a “Cancel URL”. A “Cancel URL” isusually the “Main Page” of the merchant's commercial website, and is thewebsite that a customer is brought to after cancelling an order. Forinstance, if the merchant's commercial website is coded in HTML, theCancel URL may be: http://www.yourstore.com/MainPage.htm.

In step 245, the merchant selects a “Payment Type”. If the merchant isusing PayPal, the Payment Type is an input to the Payflow Gateway thatallows a merchant to determine when to actually charge the customer orpurchaser's PayPal or credit card account. PayPal currently supports twodifferent Payment Types.

The first Payment Type is “Sale” which means that the funds are creditedto the merchant's account immediately at the end of the checkout flow,or right after the customer or purchaser finishes the checkout processof web pages. The second Payment Type is “Authorization” which meansthat the merchant obtains an authorization (or a hold) for thetransaction amount and the merchant then captures the funds against thisauthorization at a later date. Authorizations are valid for specificamounts of time, such as up to three days. The fund capture can be doneeither from the PayPal account or by using a function in the API called“DoCapture”.

In step 250, the merchant selects a “Currency Code”. The “Currency Code”can comprise, but is not limited to: U.S. Dollar [USD], AustralianDollar [AUD], Canadian Dollar [CAD], Swiss Franc [CHF], Czech Koruna[CZK], Danish Krone [DKK], Euro [EUR], Pound Sterling [GBP], Hong KongDollar [HKD], Hungarian Forint [HUF], Japanese Yen [JPY], NorwegianKrone [NOK], New Zealand Dollar [NZD], Polish Zloty [PLN], Swedish Krona[SEK], and the Singapore Dollar [SGD]. This is the currency that thecustomer or purchaser will use to pay the merchant for the product, orthe currency that the merchant has decided to accept on his or hercommercial website.

Finally, in step 255, all the inputted parameters from steps 205 to 250are taken and placed into a code generator. In step 255, the codegenerator in turn generates code snippets and file(s) tailored to theparameters input in steps 205 to 250. For instance, code snippets aregenerated that swap in the “Return URL” and “Cancel URL” in theappropriate locations. Also in the code snippets, the “Payment Type” and“Currency Code” information is properly reflected. Finally, the file(s)that a merchant usually places in the shopping cart web directory aregenerated, in the “Shopping Cart Programming Language” that the merchantselected in steps 220 and 225 (e.g. either ASP, ASPX, JSP, Java, PHP oranother language). After the code snippets and file(s) have beengenerated, the merchant then proceeds to step 135 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing details of step 140 of the integrationmethod shown in FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the invention. Instep 305, the merchant is asked: “Does Payment Mechanism [selectedpayment mechanism] Require a Customer to Leave the Merchant's CommercialWebsite for Payment?” If the answer to this question is YES, then thepayment mechanism likely is integrated with a Shopping Cart Page, aBilling Page, an Order Review Page and an Order Confirmation Page. Ifthe answer to this question is NO, then the payment mechanism isintegrated only with an Order Confirmation Page.

Assuming the answer to the question posed in step 305 is YES, step 310involves the instructions to be followed for integrating code into the“Shopping Cart Page” of a merchant's commercial website. In step 310A,the merchant takes the downloaded code snippet, generated according tothe parameters specified in step 130 of FIG. 1, and places that codesnippet into the “Shopping Cart Page” of the merchant's commercialwebsite code. Then, in step 310B, the merchant downloads the respectivefile(s) and places the file(s) into the shopping cart web directory ofhis or her commercial website. What language these files show up independs on what language was specified as the “Shopping Cart ProgrammingLanguage” in steps 220 and 225 of FIG. 2. If ASP, JSP, Java or PHP wereselected, then there will usually be two ASP, JSP, Java or PHP files,respectively, that will be generated and that will need to be placed inthe shopping cart web directory of the merchant's commercial website. IfASPX was selected, there will be five files: two “.aspx” files and three“.aspx.cs” files. A different number of files will be generated if adifferent type of language, not specified above, is selected. Finally,in step 310C, the merchant saves the total payment amount in a sessionvariable named “Payment_Amount”. The code in the generated file(s) isdesigned to read from this session variable and pass this variable asinput to an API function call.

In step 315, instructions are outlined for integrating code into the“Billing Page” of a merchant's commercial website. In step 315A, themerchant inserts the downloaded code snippet into the “Billing Page”section of the merchant's commercial website, or the section of themerchant's commercial website that handles billing. In step 316B, thecode snippet has a variety of “shipping address placeholders” e.g.<<ShipToName>>, <<ShipToStreet>>, <<ShipToCity>>, <<ShiftToState>>, etc.The merchant replaces these placeholders with variables representing theshipping address, which are usually provided in the API library.Finally, in step 315C, the merchant saves the total payment amount (anumerical amount) in a session variable named “Payment_Amount”. The codeinside the files described in step 310 is designed to read from thissession variable and pass this value as input to an API function call.

In step 320, instructions are outlined for integrating code into the“Order Review Page” of a merchant's commercial website. In step 320A,the merchant inserts the downloaded code snippet into the “Order Review”page of the merchant's commercial website. In step 320B, the merchantdisplays the shipping address returned by the code variables directly onthe “Order Review” page for the customer to review. In step 320C, themerchant saves the total payment amount (a numerical value) in a sessionvariable named “Payment_Amount”. The code inside the files described instep 310 is designed to read from this session variable and pass thisvalue as input to an API function call.

In step 325, instructions are outlined for integrating code into the“Order Confirmation Page” of a merchant's commercial website, if theselected payment mechanism at issue requires a customer to leave themerchant's commercial website for payment (e.g. a “YES” to the questionposed in step 305). In step 325A, the merchant inserts the downloadedcode snippet into the “Order Confirmation Page” of the merchant'scommercial website. Then, in step 325B, the merchant saves the totalpayment amount (a numerical value) in a session variable named“Payment_Amount”. The code inside the files described in step 310 aredesigned to read from this session variable and pass this value as inputto an API function call. Finally, in step 325C, the merchant processesthe information returned by the code snippet of step 325A and completesorder backend processing.

In step 330, instructions are outlined that are to be followed forintegrating code into the “Order Confirmation Page” of a merchant'scommercial website, if the selected payment mechanism at issue does notrequire a customer to leave the merchant's commercial website forpayment (e.g. a “NO” to the question posed in step 305). In step 330A,the merchant inserts the downloaded code snippet into the “OrderConfirmation Page” of the merchant's commercial website. Then, in step330B, because the merchant has not downloaded any file(s) yet (because amerchant only downloads file(s) in step 310B if he answers “YES” to thequestion in step 305 and then goes to step 310), the merchant will haveto download the generated files from the parameters specified in FIG. 2.Then, in step 310C the merchant passes the data collected from the“Billing Page” of the merchant's commercial website to the“DirectPayment” function in one of the downloaded files, if PayPal isused. Finally, in step 310D, the merchant processes the informationreturned by the code snippet in step 330A and completes order backendprocessing.

Finally, in step 335, the merchant is finished with integrating the codeinto all relevant pages or sections of his or her commercial website.

Also in step 335, a completion page will appear that will tell themerchant instructions on how to test the integrated code and how to “golive” by executing the integrated code on the actual, live version ofthe merchant's commercial website. After step 335, the process goes tostep 145 in FIG. 1.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a website integrationsystem is provided that enables a merchant to seamlessly integratepayment mechanism code into their commercial website without having tounderstand an intricate API or other code.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot of a “Payment Mechanism Select” page of theIntegration Wizard System according to another embodiment of theinvention. Payment mechanism list 405 lists the different paymentmechanisms that a merchant can select. Although in this particularIntegration Wizard there are only three—Express Checkout PayPal, ExpressCheckout PayFlow Edition and Credit Card PayFlow—the invention is notlimited to just these three payment mechanisms and there can be more.

FIG. 5A is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page for oneselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention. Page Flow Notice 505 provides a link to the merchant forunderstanding the checkout page flow of the particular payment mechanism(in this case, Express Checkout PayPal), and provides a link to thetutorial page showing the page flows. Sandbox and API Credentials Notice510 informs the merchant on how to create a sandbox test account andobtain API Credentials. If the merchant clicks the text “sandbox testaccount” he or she is brought to the website http://developer.paypal.comto set up a developer account. If the merchant clicks the text “APICredentials”, a help box appears, which will be detailed in FIG. 5B.Programming Language Notice 515 informs the merchant that he or she hasto know the programming language used in the shopping cart on themerchant's commercial website (e.g. usually ASP, ASPX, JSP, Java, PHP oranother language, as described above).

FIG. 5B is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page for oneselected payment mechanism showing a “help box”, according to anotherembodiment of the invention. API Credentials Help Box 520 describes tothe merchant how to open a Sandbox Test Account and how to obtain APICredentials (API username, API password, signature) with step-by-stepinstructions.

FIG. 5C is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page foranother selected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment ofthe invention. Page Flow Notice 525 provides a link to the tutorial pageshowing the page flows for the particular payment mechanism (in thiscase, Express Checkout PayFlow Edition).

Sandbox and Payflow Credentials Notice 530 informs the merchant on howto create a sandbox test account and obtain Payflow Credentials. If themerchant clicks the text “Payflow credentials and a Sandbox accountactivated for testing Express Checkout”, a help box appears, which willbe detailed in FIG. 5D. Programming Language Notice 515 informs themerchant that he or she has to know the programming language used in theshopping cart on the merchant's commercial website (e.g. usually ASP,ASPX, JSP, Java, PHP or another language, as described above).

FIG. 5D is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page foranother selected payment mechanism showing a “help box”, according toanother embodiment of the invention. Payflow Credentials Help Box 540describes to the merchant how to open up a PayPal Merchant account, howto obtain Payflow Credentials (Vendor, Password, User, Partner), and howto use a Sandbox for testing Payflow Pro with step-by-step instructions.

FIG. 5E is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page for yetanother selected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment ofthe invention. Page Flow Notice 545 provides a link to the tutorial pageshowing the page flows for the particular payment mechanism (in thiscase, Credit Card PayFlow). Payflow Credentials Notice 550 informs themerchant on how to obtain Payflow Credentials. If the merchant clicksthe text “Payflow credentials”, a help box appears, which will bedetailed in FIG. 5F. Programming Language Notice 555 informs themerchant that he or she has to know the programming language used in theshopping cart on the merchant's commercial website (e.g. usually ASP,ASPX, JSP, Java, PHP or another language, as described above).

FIG. 5F is a screenshot of a “Getting Started” or overview page for yetanother selected payment mechanism showing a “help box”, according toanother embodiment of the invention. Short Payflow Credentials Help Box560 describes to the merchant how to open up a PayPal Merchant accountand how to obtain Payflow Credentials (Vendor, password, User, Partner)with step-by-step instructions.

FIG. 6A is a screenshot of a first tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “shopping cart” aspect of aselected payment mechanism, according to another embodiment of theinvention. The first tutorial page flow shows how a shopping cart workswhere the customer stays on the merchant's commercial website the entiretime. Shopping Cart Page 605 is where the customer selects products andputs them into a shopping cart. Shipping Address Page 610 is where thecustomer specifies his or her shipping address. Billing Page 615 iswhere the customer chooses a payment method (e.g. credit card, debitcard or PayPal) to pay for the purchase.

Order Review Page 620 is where the customer reviews his or her order.Order Confirmation Page 625 is where the order has been finalized andsubmitted and a confirmation page is generated for the customer'srecords. Usually, a confirmation number of some sort is provided to thecustomer at the Order Confirmation Page 625.

FIG. 6B is a screenshot of a second tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “Express Checkout” aspect of aselected payment mechanism (here, either Express Checkout PayPal orExpress Checkout PayFlow Edition), according to another embodiment ofthe invention. The second tutorial page flow shows how a customer canproceed directly from the Shopping Cart Page 605 to an externalfinancial transaction website, such as the PayPal Login Page 630. There,the customer inputs his PayPal username and password to log-in toPayPal. The customer's PayPal account should also have several shippingaddresses on file and adequate funds to pay for the purchase, so thereis no need to enter the Shipping Address information in the ShippingAddress Page 610 or enter a credit card or debit card on the BillingPage 615. Going to a PayPal Login Page 630 circumvents having to gothrough the Shipping Address Page 610 and Billing Page 615. After thecustomer has paid for the purchase after logging in through PayPal LoginPage 630, the customer reviews the payment on PayPal Review Payment Page635. Then, the shipping address information and payment information fromPayPal are forwarded from the PayPal site back to the merchant'scommercial website, and the customer then returns to the Order ReviewPage 620 of the merchant's commercial website to review his or herorder. Then, the customer proceeds to the Order Confirmation Page 625 toreceive confirmation that the order has been sent.

FIG. 6C is a screenshot of a third tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “Payment Option” aspect of aselected payment mechanism (here, either Express Checkout PayPal orExpress Checkout PayFlow Edition), according to another embodiment ofthe invention. The third tutorial page flow shows how a customer goesfrom the Shopping Cart Page 605 to the Shipping Address Page 610 toenter a shipping address, and then to the Billing Page 615 to choose apayment method. If the customer chooses a financial transaction programsuch as PayPal as the payment method, the customer can then go to PayPalLogin Page 630, enter his or her username and password, pay for thepurchase with PayPal funds and then review the purchase on the PayPalReview Payment Page 635. Then, the customer is brought back to OrderReview Page 620 of the merchant's commercial website and finally goes toOrder Confirmation Page 625 to receive confirmation that the order hasbeen sent.

FIG. 6D is a screenshot of a fourth tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “Express Checkout” and “PaymentOption” aspects, combined, of a selected payment mechanism (here, eitherExpress Checkout PayPal or Express Checkout PayFlow Edition, accordingto another embodiment of the invention. Basically, these are the twopage flows described in FIG. 6B and FIG. 6C combined into one. Thepurpose of this tutorial is to educate the merchant on the fact thatboth flows are available and can be used with the selected paymentmechanism.

FIG. 6E is a screenshot of another tutorial “page flow” page, educatingthe merchant on the page flow of the “Payment Option” flow for a creditcard, of another selected payment mechanism (here, Credit Card PayFlow),according to another embodiment of the invention. The description of thepage flow in FIG. 6E is identical to the description of the page flow inFIG. 6A. The only difference is that there are arrows showing themovement from each page to the next in order to educate the merchant onhow a customer can make a purchase and pay for the purchase all whilestill on the merchant's commercial website the entire time, withoutleaving to another website.

FIG. 7A is a screenshot of a page requesting API credentials, ShoppingCart Programming Language, a Return URL, a Cancel URL, the Payment Typeand the Currency Code of a selected payment mechanism (here, ExpressCheckout PayPal), according to another embodiment of the invention. APICredentials Fields 705 enable a merchant to enter his or her APIUsername, API Password, or Signature. If the merchant wants to get help,the merchant can click “PayPal API credentials” in the text “How to getPayPal API credentials” to open up API Credentials Help Box 520, shownin FIG. 5B.

Shopping Cart Programming Language Dropdown Menu 710 allows a merchantto select a programming language from a plurality of programminglanguages. Currently, Dropdown Menu 710 allows the user to select fromeither: Active Server Pages (ASP), ASP.Net-C# (ASPX), Java Server Pages(JSP), Java or Java SDK, or PHP. However, this list is merely exemplaryand not exhaustive.

Return URL Field 715 enables a merchant to enter a “Return URL”. A“Return URL” is usually the “Order Review Page” of the merchant'scommercial website, and is the website that a customer “returns” toafter visiting an external financial transaction website such as PayPal.For instance, if the merchant's commercial website is coded in HTML, theReturn URL is: http://www.yourstore.com/OrderConfirmPage.htm. Cancel URLField 720 enables a merchant to enter a “Cancel URL”. A “Cancel URL” isusually the “Main Page” of the merchant's commercial website, and is thewebsite that a customer is brought to after cancelling an order. Forinstance, a potential Cancel URL may be:http://www.yourstore.com/MainPage.htm.

Payment Type Dropdown Menu 725 allows a merchant to select a “PaymentType”. If the merchant is using PayPal, the Payment Type is an input tothe Payflow Gateway that allows a merchant to determine when to actuallycharge the customer or purchaser's PayPal or credit card account. PayPalcurrently supports two different Payment Types that can be currentlyselected from Dropdown Menu 725.

The first Payment Type is “Sale” which means that the funds are creditedto the merchant's account immediately at the end of the checkout flow,or right after the customer or purchaser finishes the checkout processof web pages. The second Payment Type is “Authorization” which meansthat the merchant obtains an authorization (or a hold) for thetransaction amount and the merchant then captures the funds against thisauthorization at a later date. Authorizations are valid for up to threedays. The fund capture can be done either from the PayPal account or byusing a function in the API called “DoCapture”. The Payment Types arenot limited to only these two and additional Payment Types may be addedto Dropdown Menu 725.

Currency Code Dropdown Menu 730 enables a merchant to select a “CurrencyCode”. The “Currency Code” that can be currently selected from DropdownMenu 730 can comprise, but is not limited to the following: U.S. Dollar[USD], Australian Dollar [AUD], Canadian Dollar [CAD], Swiss Franc[CHF], Czech Koruna [CZK], Danish Krone [DKK], Euro [EUR], PoundSterling [GBP], Hong Kong Dollar [HKD], Hungarian Forint [HUF], JapaneseYen [JPY], Norwegian Krone [NOK], New Zealand Dollar [NZD], Polish Zloty[PLN], Swedish Krona [SEK], and the Singapore Dollar [SGD]. This is thecurrency that the customer or purchaser will use to pay the merchant forthe product, or the currency that the merchant has decided to accept onhis or her commercial website. This list is not exhaustive andadditional currencies can be used.

FIG. 7B is a screenshot of a page requesting Payflow credentials,Shopping Cart Programming Language, the Environment, a Return URL, aCancel URL, the Payment Type, and the Currency Code of another selectedpayment mechanism (here, either Express Checkout PayFlow Edition orCredit Card PayFlow), according to another embodiment of the invention.The Shopping Cart Programming Language Dropdown Menu 710, Return URLField 715, Cancel URL Field 720, Payment Type Dropdown Menu 725, andCurrency Code Dropdown Menu 730 are identical to the descriptions ofthose elements above in FIG. 7A. The only new elements are PayflowCredentials Fields 735 and Environment Dropdown Menu 740. PayflowCredentials Fields 735 enable a merchant to enter his or her Vendor(ID), Password, User (ID) and Partner (ID). The descriptions of theseIDs are provided in the description of step 215 in FIG. 2, above. If themerchant wants to get help, the merchant can click “Payflow credentials”in the text “How to get Payflow credentials” to open up PayflowCredentials Help Box 520, shown in FIG. 5D (if using Express CheckoutPayFlow Edition) or in FIG. 5F (if using Credit Card PayFlow).Environment Dropdown Menu 740 allows a merchant to select the“Environment” of the integrated code, which usually comprises either“Pilot”, for testing purposes, or “Live” which means that the integratedcode will automatically be integrated into the actual, live version ofthe merchant's commercial website on the internet.

FIG. 8A is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet and file(s) touse in the “Shopping Cart Page” of a merchant's commercial website for aselected payment mechanism (here, either Express Checkout PayPal orExpress Checkout PayFlow Edition), according to another embodiment ofthe invention. Code snippet 805 is the code generated from theparameters specified from the various fields and dropdown menus in FIG.7A. For instance, the text specified in the Return URL Field 715 and theCancel URL Field 720 from FIG. 7A or 7B have been substituted for thetext in code snippet 805, as have the values selected from the PaymentType Dropdown Menu 725 and the Currency Code Dropdown Menu 730. Codesnippet 805 is placed into the “Shopping Cart Page” of the merchant'scommercial website, or the section of the merchant's commercial websitecode that handles the shopping cart. Shopping Cart Web Directory Files810 are generated from what Programming Language was selected from theShopping Cart Programming Language Dropdown Menu 710 in FIG. 7A or 7B.For instance, if ASP was selected, then two files: expresscheckout.asp,paypalfunctions.asp are generated. If JSP, Java (or Java SDK), or PHPare selected, then two files will also be generated: e.g.expresscheckout.jsp, paypalfunctions.jsp (for JSP),expresscheckout.java, paypalfunctions.java (for Java), orexpresscheckout.php, paypalfunctions.php (for PHP). If ASPX is selected,however, there will be five files generated: expresscheckout.aspx,expresscheckout.aspx.cs, APIError.aspx, APIError.aspx.cs, andpaypalfunctions.cs, the final file which is placed into the “AppCode”subdirectory of the merchant's Net web application. Shopping Cart WebDirectory Files 810 is placed in the shopping cart web directory of themerchant's commercial website.

Finally, Payment_Amount Variable Instruction 815 instructs the merchantto save the total payment amount (a numerical value) in a sessionvariable named “Payment_Amount”. The code inside the ExpressCheckoutfile (e.g. expresscheckout.asp) is designed to read from this sessionvariable and pass it as input to an API function call.

FIG. 8B is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet to insert intoto the “Billing Page” of a merchant's commercial website for a selectedpayment mechanism (here, either Express Checkout PayPal or ExpressCheckout PayFlow Edition), according to another embodiment of theinvention. Code snippet 820, generated from the parameters specified inthe fields and dropdown menus of FIG. 7A or 7B, are placed on the“Billing Page” of the merchant's commercial website, or the section ofthe merchant's commercial website code that handles billing. ShippingAddress Instruction 825 instructs the merchant in order to pass theshipping address entered by the customer, the shipping addressplaceholders in code snippet 820 are replaced with variablesrepresenting the shipping address. These variables are provided byPayPal, or can be created by the merchant. Payment_Amount VariableInstruction 815 is the same as in FIG. 8A.

FIG. 8C is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet to insert intoto the “Order Review Page” of a merchant's commercial website for aselected payment mechanism (here, either Express Checkout PayPal orExpress Checkout PayFlow Edition), according to another embodiment ofthe invention. Code snippet 830, generated from the parameters specifiedin the fields and dropdown menus of FIG. 7A or 7B, are placed on the“Order Review Page” of the merchant's commercial website, or the sectionof the merchant's commercial website code that handles order review.Shipping Address Display Instruction 835 instructs the merchant todisplay the shipping address returned in the code variables on the“Order Review Page” so that the customer can review the shipping addressafter the information has been submitted. Finally, Payment_AmountVariable Instruction 815 is the same as FIG. 8A.

FIG. 8D is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet to insert intothe “Order Confirmation Page” of a merchant's commercial website for aselected payment mechanism (here, either Express Checkout PayPal orExpress Checkout PayFlow Edition), according to another embodiment ofthe invention. Code snippet 840, generated from the parameters specifiedin the fields and dropdown menus of FIG. 7A or 7B, are placed on the“Order Confirmation Page” of the merchant's commercial website, or thesection of the merchant's commercial website code that handles orderconfirmation. Payment_Amount Variable Instruction 815 is the same asFIG. 8A. Processing Instruction 845 instructs the merchant to processthe information returned by the code and complete the merchant's orderbackend processing.

FIG. 8E is a screenshot of a page showing a code snippet and file(s) toinsert into the “Credit Card” transaction page of a merchant'scommercial website for another selected payment mechanism (here, CreditCard PayFlow), according to another embodiment of the invention. Codesnippet 850, generated from the parameters specified in the fields anddropdown menu of FIG. 7B, are placed on the “Order Confirmation Page” ofthe merchant's commercial website, or the section of the merchant'scommercial website code that handles order confirmation. Shopping CartWeb Directory Files 855 are identical to the Shopping Cart Web DirectoryFiles 810 described above in FIG. 8A, except that there will be no“expresscheckout.xxx” file, where “xxx” is the extension “asp”, “aspx”,“cs”, “jsp”, “java”, “php”, or another file extension. Passing DataInstruction 860 instructs the merchant to pass the data collected fromthe “Billing Page” after the “Shopping Cart Page” to the “DirectPayment”function in the paypalfunctions file. Finally, Processing Instruction845 is the same as in FIG. 8D.

FIG. 8F, FIG. 8G and FIG. 8H are screenshots showing example sections ofa merchant's commercial website. FIG. 8F is a screenshot showing asample “Shopping Cart Page”. If the merchant clicks “View sampleShopping Cart Page” in FIG. 8A, then FIG. 8F will be viewed. FIG. 8G isa screenshot showing a sample “Billing Page”. If the merchant clicks“View sample Billing Page” in FIG. 8B, then FIG. 8G will be viewed. FIG.8H is a screenshot showing a sample “Order Review Page”. If the merchantclicks “View sample Order Review Page” in FIG. 8C, then FIG. 8H will beviewed.

FIG. 9A is a screenshot of a page showing the completion of integrationof code on a merchant's commercial website for a selected paymentmechanism (here, Express Checkout PayPal), according to anotherembodiment of the invention. Flow tutorials 905 instruct the merchant onthe page flows for the entire checkout process. If the merchant clicks“Flow 1”, a page flow identical to FIG. 6B will be viewed. If themerchant clicks “Flow 2”, a page flow identical to FIG. 6C will beviewed. API Credential Go Live Instructions 910 instruct the merchant onhow to go live with the integrated code once the merchant has a merchantaccount with API Credentials. In the integrated code, the merchantreplaces the Sandbox API Credentials with the live API Credentials, andthen in the paypalfunctions.xxx file (xxx being asp, aspx, cs, jsp,java, php, etc.), the merchant sets the Sandbox variable to false inorder to cause the code to use the PayPal live site API endpoints.Finally, Help Resources 915 provides the merchant with resources if themerchant has any questions. If the merchant clicks “Knowledge Base”, thewebsite at:https://ppmts.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ppdts.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php(PayPal Merchant Technical Services, Answer/Knowledge Base) will openup. If the merchant clicks “Technical Support”, the merchant will alsobe brought to the same above website. If the merchant clicks “DeveloperCommunity”, the website at:http://www.pdncommunity.com/pdn/blog?blog.id=devblog (PayPal DeveloperCommunity—PayPal Developer Blog) will open up.

FIG. 9B is a screenshot of a page showing the completion of integrationof code on a merchant's commercial website for another selected paymentmechanism (here, Express Checkout PayFlow Edition), according to anotherembodiment of the invention. Flow tutorials 905 and Help Resources 915are the same as in FIG. 9A.

Payflow Credential Go Live Instructions 920 instruct the merchant how to“go live” with the finally integrated code. In the paypalfunctions.xxxfile (xxx being asp, aspx, cs, jsp, java, php, etc.), the merchant makessure to set the Sandbox variable to false to cause the code to use thePayflow live site API endpoints. This is identical to the API CredentialGo Live Instructions 910 in FIG. 9A, except that there is no need to“Replace the Sandbox API credentials with the live API credentials”.

FIG. 9C is a screenshot of a page showing the completion of integrationof code on a merchant's commercial website for yet another selectedpayment mechanism (here, Credit Card PayFlow), according to anotherembodiment of the invention. Flow tutorial 925 instructs the merchant onthe page flow of the checkout process where a customer stays on themerchant's commercial website the entire time. If the merchant clicks“Flow 1” then a page flow identical to FIG. 6E will appear. ShortPayflow Credentials Go Live Instructions 930 are identical to thePayflow Credentials Go Live Instructions 920 in FIG. 9B, except there isno need to set the Sandbox variable to false. The instruction merelytells the merchant to make sure to use the live site Payflow APIendpoints in the paypalfunctions.xxx file, (xxx being asp, aspx, cs,jsp, java, php, etc.). Help Resources 915 are the same as in FIG. 9A.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention are merelymeant to be illustrative and not limiting. For example, on-linefinancial transaction services and products other than PayPal are alsosuitable for the present invention. Various methods have been described;however, not all steps may be required for certain applications andsteps may also be modified to meet specific needs. It will thus beobvious to those skilled in the art that various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from this invention in itsbroader aspects. Therefore, the appended claims encompass all suchchanges and modifications as they fall within the true spirit and scopeof this invention.

1. A system comprising: a memory storing information about an onlinemerchant; and one or more processors for receiving, from an onlinemerchant, a selection of a payment mechanism to be integrated into anonline website; presenting, to the online merchant, a user interface forentering information to be communicated to a service provider;accepting, from the online merchant, a plurality of credentials andparameters from the user interface for customizing the payment mechanismto be integrated into the online commercial website, wherein theplurality of credentials and parameters include a selection of a sandboxintegration or a live integration; generating a plurality of codesnippets and a plurality of files based on the plurality of credentialsand parameters, wherein the plurality of code snippets and the pluralityof files are configured to be tested in a sandbox or integrated liveinto the online commercial website depending on the selection of thesandbox integration or the live integration; transferring to the onlinemerchant the plurality of code snippets and the plurality of files; andpresenting instructions to the online merchant for integrating theplurality of code snippets and the plurality of files into the onlinecommercial website of the online merchant that allows the onlinemerchant to offer the payment mechanism to consumers to make payments onthe online commercial website, wherein the instructions includeinstructions for obtaining completely integrated code, instructions onhow to test the completely integrated code in a sandbox, andinstructions on how to go live with the completely integrated code. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a graphicalrepresentation of page flow information that shows how a customerproceeds from a shopping cart to checking out with the selected paymentmechanism.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions arepresented in the context of page flows for the payment mechanism.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein said accepting a plurality of credentials andparameters comprises: receiving a plurality of credentials in aplurality of credential fields; receiving a selection of a shopping cartprogramming language; receiving an input of a return URL; receiving aninput of a cancel URL; and receiving a selection of a payment type. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein said presenting instructions comprises:determining if the payment mechanism requires a customer to leave theonline commercial website for payment; presenting instructions forintegrating the payment mechanism code into a shopping cart page of theonline commercial website when the payment mechanism does require thecustomer to leave the online commercial website for payment; presentinginstructions for integrating the payment mechanism code into a billingpage of the online commercial website when the payment mechanism doesrequire the customer to leave the online commercial website for payment;presenting instructions for integrating the payment mechanism code intoan order review page of the online commercial website when the paymentmechanism does require the customer to leave the online commercialwebsite for payment; presenting a first set of instructions forintegrating the payment mechanism code into an order confirmation pageof the online commercial website when the payment mechanism does requirethe customer to leave the online commercial website for payment; andpresenting a second set of instructions for integrating the paymentmechanism code into the order confirmation page of the online commercialwebsite when the payment mechanism does not require the customer toleave the online commercial website for payment.
 6. The system of claim5, wherein said presenting instructions for integrating the paymentmechanism code into a shopping cart page of the online commercialwebsite comprises: taking a shopping cart page code snippet from theplurality of code snippets and inserting the shopping cart page codesnippet into the code section of the online commercial website where theshopping cart page is located; placing the plurality of files into theshopping cart web directory of the online commercial website; and savinga total payment amount in a session variable.
 7. The system of claim 5,wherein said presenting instructions for integrating the paymentmechanism code into a billing page of the online commercial websitecomprises: taking a billing page code snippet from the plurality of codesnippets and inserting the billing page code snippet into the codesection of the online commercial website where the billing page islocated; replacing the shipping address placeholders in the billing pagecode snippet with variables representing a shipping address; and savinga total payment amount in a session variable.
 8. The system of claim 5,wherein said presenting instructions for integrating the paymentmechanism code into an order review page of the online commercialwebsite comprises: taking an order review page code snippet from theplurality of code snippets and inserting the order review page codesnippet into the code section of the online commercial website where theorder review page is located; displaying a shipping address on the orderreview page of the online commercial website; and saving a total paymentamount in a session variable.
 9. The system of claim 5, wherein saidpresenting a first set of instructions for integrating the paymentmechanism code into an order confirmation page of the online commercialwebsite comprises: taking an order confirmation page code snippet fromthe plurality of code snippets and inserting the order confirmation pagecode snippet into the code section of the online commercial websitewhere the order confirmation page is located; saving a total paymentamount in a session variable; processing information returned by theorder confirmation page code snippet; and completing order backendprocessing for the online commercial website.
 10. A non-transitorymachine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readableinstructions which when executed by one or more processors of a serverare adapted to cause the server to perform a method comprising:receiving, from an online merchant, a selection of a payment mechanismto be integrated into an online website; presenting, to the onlinemerchant, a user interface for entering information to be communicatedto a service provider; accepting, from the online merchant, a pluralityof credentials and parameters from the user interface for customizingthe payment mechanism to be integrated into the online commercialwebsite, wherein the plurality of credentials and parameters include aselection of a sandbox integration or a live integration; generating aplurality of code snippets and a plurality of files based on theplurality of credentials and parameters, wherein the plurality of codesnippets and the plurality of files are configured to be tested in asandbox or integrated live into the online commercial website dependingon the selection of the sandbox integration or the live integration;transferring to the online merchant the plurality of code snippets andthe plurality of files; and presenting instructions to the onlinemerchant for integrating the plurality of code snippets and theplurality of files into the online commercial website of the onlinemerchant that allows the online merchant to offer the payment mechanismto consumers to make payments on the online commercial website, whereinthe instructions include instructions for obtaining completelyintegrated code, instructions on how to test the completely integratedcode in a sandbox, and instructions on how to go live with thecompletely integrated code.
 11. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 10, wherein the user interface comprises a graphicalrepresentation of page flow information that shows how a customerproceeds from a shopping cart to checking out with the selected paymentmechanism.
 12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10,wherein the instructions are presented in the context of page flows forthe payment mechanism.
 13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 10, wherein said accepting a plurality of credentials andparameters comprises: receiving a plurality of credentials in aplurality of credential fields; receiving a selection of a shopping cartprogramming language; receiving an input of a return URL; receiving aninput of a cancel URL; and receiving a selection of a payment type. 14.The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein saidpresenting instructions comprises: determining if the payment mechanismrequires a customer to leave the online commercial website for payment;presenting instructions for integrating the payment mechanism code intoa shopping cart page of the online commercial website when the paymentmechanism does require the customer to leave the online commercialwebsite for payment; presenting instructions for integrating the paymentmechanism code into a billing page of the online commercial website whenthe payment mechanism does require the customer to leave the onlinecommercial website for payment; presenting instructions for integratingthe payment mechanism code into an order review page of the onlinecommercial website when the payment mechanism does require the customerto leave the online commercial website for payment; presenting a firstset of instructions for integrating the payment mechanism code into anorder confirmation page of the online commercial website when thepayment mechanism does require the customer to leave the onlinecommercial website for payment; and presenting a second set ofinstructions for integrating the payment mechanism code into the orderconfirmation page of the online commercial website when the paymentmechanism does not require the customer to leave the online commercialwebsite for payment.
 15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 14, wherein said presenting instructions for integrating thepayment mechanism code into a shopping cart page of the onlinecommercial website comprises: taking a shopping cart page code snippetfrom the plurality of code snippets and inserting the shopping cart pagecode snippet into the code section of the online commercial websitewhere the shopping cart page is located; placing the plurality of filesinto the shopping cart web directory of the online commercial website;and saving a total payment amount in a session variable.
 16. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein saidpresenting instructions for integrating the payment mechanism code intoa billing page of the online commercial website comprises: taking abilling page code snippet from the plurality of code snippets andinserting the billing page code snippet into the code section of theonline commercial website where the billing page is located; replacingthe shipping address placeholders in the billing page code snippet withvariables representing a shipping address; and saving a total paymentamount in a session variable.
 17. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 14, wherein said presenting instructions for integratingthe payment mechanism code into an order review page of the onlinecommercial website comprises: taking an order review page code snippetfrom the plurality of code snippets and inserting the order review pagecode snippet into the code section of the online commercial websitewhere the order review page is located; displaying a shipping address onthe order review page of the online commercial website; and saving atotal payment amount in a session variable.
 18. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein said presenting a first setof instructions for integrating the payment mechanism code into an orderconfirmation page of the online commercial website comprises: taking anorder confirmation page code snippet from the plurality of code snippetsand inserting the order confirmation page code snippet into the codesection of the online commercial website where the order confirmationpage is located; saving a total payment amount in a session variable;processing information returned by the order confirmation page codesnippet; and completing order backend processing for the onlinecommercial website.
 19. A method comprising: receiving, electronicallyfrom a device of an online merchant, a selection of a payment mechanismto be integrated into an online website; presenting, electronically todevice of the online merchant, a user interface for entering informationto be communicated to a service provider; accepting, electronically fromthe device of the online merchant, a plurality of credentials andparameters from the user interface for customizing the payment mechanismto be integrated into the online commercial website, wherein theplurality of credentials and parameters include a selection of a sandboxintegration or a live integration; generating, by a hardware processor,a plurality of code snippets and a plurality of files based on theplurality of credentials and parameters, wherein the plurality of codesnippets and the plurality of files are configured to be tested in asandbox or integrated live into the online commercial website dependingon the selection of the sandbox integration or the live integration;transferring electronically to the online merchant the plurality of codesnippets and the plurality of files; and presenting instructionselectronically to the online merchant for integrating the plurality ofcode snippets and the plurality of files into the online commercialwebsite of the online merchant that allows the online merchant to offerthe payment mechanism to consumers to make payments on the onlinecommercial website, wherein the instructions include instructions forobtaining completely integrated code, instructions on how to test thecompletely integrated code in a sandbox, and instructions on how to golive with the completely integrated code.
 20. The method of claim 19,wherein the user interface comprises a graphical representation of pageflow information that shows how a customer proceeds from a shopping cartto checking out with the selected payment mechanism.
 21. The method ofclaim 19, wherein the instructions are presented in the context of pageflows for the payment mechanism.